1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital processing systems implemented to support supply chain management, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for determining whether orders related to a family of products can be promised.
2. Related Art
Supply chain management (SCM) systems generally refer to digital processing systems which enable one to plan/determine the availability of various products at the right time, in the right place, and in right condition. SCM systems are often used in manufacturing plants to reduce inventories at various levels, i.e., components used to build products, products shipped to the next party (e.g., retailer) in the supply chain, etc., as is well known in the relevant arts.
One common application of SCM systems is to determine whether an order can be promised or not. As an illustration, a purchaser may wish to purchase 1000 units to be delivered on a specific future date, and the SCM system may need to indicate whether the quantity and delivery date requirements can be met based on the status of availability of various resources (e.g., components), and the time required at each stage to produce the product from the available resources.
Manufacturing operations often produce a family of products. A family of products generally refers to a group of products which share similarities in terms of resource requirements. For example, an operation may manufacture Pepsi, Mirinda, and Sprite (each product being referred to as a member of the family), which use similar components such as bottles of same shape, caps of same physical makeup (but with different label/color towards the end), liquid, etc. In general, the components share similar features to some extent, but could differ (e.g., in color, logo, etc.) depending on the specific member in which the components are used.
It may be desirable that a SCM system take advantage of such commonalities in determining whether orders can be promised or not.